Application of Amniotic Membrane in Skin Regeneration.

Amniotic membrane (AM) is an avascular structure composed of three different layers, which contain collagen, extracellular matrix, and biologically active cells (stem cells). Collagen, a naturally occurring matrix polymer, provides the structural matrix/strength of the amniotic membrane. Tissue remodeling is regulated by growth factors, cytokines, chemokines, and other regulatory molecules produced by endogenous cells within AM. Therefore, AM is considered an attractive skin-regenerating agent. This review discusses the application of AM in skin regeneration, including its preparation for application to the skin and its mechanisms of therapeutic healing in the skin. This review involved collecting research articles that have been published in several databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, and Scopus. The search was conducted by using the keywords 'amniotic membrane skin', 'amniotic membrane wound healing', 'amniotic membrane burn', 'amniotic membrane urethral defects', 'amniotic membrane junctional epidermolysis bullosa', and 'amniotic membrane calciphylaxis'. Ultimately, 87 articles are discussed in this review. Overall, AM has various activities that help in the regeneration and repair of damaged skin.

Mannose-methyl-ß-cyclodextrin suppresses tumor growth by targeting both colon cancer cells and tumor-associated macrophages.

Methylated ß-cyclodextrin (MßCD) can extract cholesterol from lipid rafts and induce apoptosis in cancer cells by inhibiting activation of the PI3K-Akt-Bad pathway. In this study, we modified MßCD with mannose (Man-MßCD) and assessed its in vitro and in vivo potential for targeting colon cancer cells expressing the mannose receptor (MR) and tumor-associated macrophages (TAM). Man-MßCD showed a significantly greater level of cellular association with colon-26 cells and M2 macrophages, and much more prominent anticancer activity than that of MßCD against MR-positive colon-26 cells. These results revealed that autophagy was the main mechanism of cell death associated with Man-MßCD. Furthermore, compared with MßCD, Man-MßCD significantly reduced tumor development following intravenous delivery to tumor-bearing mice, with no apparent side effects. Thus, Man-MßCD has the potential to be a novel anticancer drug.